Cappadocia, Turkey is known for two things: crazy rock formations and balloons. As I explain our travels through Turkey to friends, I get slightly blank stares when I mention Cappadocia. And really, it is a region not a city, so maybe that makes sense somehow. But once I mention balloons, I get recognition. So we […]
Bologna is one of the great overlooked cities in Italy in my opinion. The northern Italian city is home to the country’s oldest university. Also known as Bologna di Grassi (Bologna the fat), it is the birthplace of a lot of the food we associate with Italy. The center of Bologna, like the center of […]
Many of the sights of Istanbul soar upwards. The mosques and their minarets reach toward the sky all over the historic city. The Basilica Cistern though reaches down. It is buried underneath a hill up the road from the Hagia Sophia museum. It is so central, that despite being just a tiny bit cheesy, is […]
Dusk is a magical time anywhere. The sky takes on radiant colors. Shadows make buildings look different. The light gets softer. In hot places, it means people start venturing out so even the human landscape is different. This time is especially photogenic for a town as inherently intriguing as Dubrovnik. Fading light often makes photography […]
The north peninsula of Istanbul is a hill. I didn’t realize this before we got there. Heading north over Galata bridge you have to go up (and pretty steep in places) to get to Istikal street or Taksim square. The journey is well worth it though. That area, despite being a shopping street, felt more […]
Meteora is a group of 6 active monasteries on top of rock pillars. The Holy Monastery of Varlaam is second in the row from top to bottom and also the second largest. I went without a tour bus and so walked from the Grand Meteoron along the road to the turn off for Varlaam. On […]
Mykonos was the last stop on my week long boat trip through the Cyclades. It is, like a lot of the islands in the chain, well known for being a party place. We were there a little after high season and it was still wild enough for me. I am glad we weren’t there earlier. […]
Everyone raves about the blue domes of Santorini. The postcards all have them. The rounded blue domes in a sea of angular white buildings clinging to a cliff. Although they are amazing and this post is not about the domes, but about the doors (only a few letters different anyway, right). I really like doors […]
Pamukkale was the wild card destination on our Turkey Honeymoon. It was something that I had seen tiny pictures of on a friend’s camera screen and wanted to see it. I didn’t really know what to expect or exactly where it was, other than Turkey. I knew I wanted to see it and we did […]
Turkey has an excellent bus system. We were told this quite often, by expats living there, fellow travelers and guide books. It is in fact true. The bus system seems to go everywhere, but it is somewhat difficult to navigate. There are multiple companies with similar routes at slightly different times. Any one guy only […]